considerable poetic talent. In his panegyric for Basil he articulated a doctrine of nature
which gave a high position to the natural world and the study of nature as an earthly
indicator which pointed the careful observer to the divine creator (Or. 43.11). The brother
of a famous physician, C, Gregory also received some systematic medical educa-
tion and shows considerable interest in medical theory and practice (Or. 2; 7).
Ed.: PG 35 – 38.
R.R. Ruether, Gregory of Nazianzus: Rhetor and Philosopher (1969); D. Winslow, The Dynamics of Salvation: A
Study in Gregory of Nazianzus (1979); RAC 12 (1983) 793–863, B. Wyß; ODB 880 – 881, B. Baldwin, A.
Kazhdan, R.S. Nelson, N.P. Sˇevcˇenko; Meredith (1995).
George Karamanolis and Daniel L. Schwartz
Gregory of Nussa (Nyssa) (ca 370 – ca 395 CE)
Born at Kappadokian Caesarea around 330, Gregory, unlike his older brother B, was
married, and did not study systematically but was self-taught in rhetoric, philosophy and
science; he was a friend of G N. Initially he became a rhetorician and
was later consecrated bishop of Nyssa in Kappadokia in 371 (hence his traditional ethnic).
He participated in several church councils, especially at Constantinople in 381, where his
arguments so impressed the emperor Theodosius that he considered communion with him a
mark of orthodoxy (Cod. Theod. 16.1.3, So ̄crate ̄s HE 5.10). He died ca 395, and is received as
a saint by the Orthodox and Roman churches.
Gregory argued that the term “God” signifies not an individual person, but a substance
which corresponds to a genus (Ad Graecos 176 – 177 M., 184–185 M.), while he also stressed
the infinite nature of God which allows infinite participation (Against Eunomius 1.291). Like
Basil, Gregory wrote on the creation of the kosmos in his Hexaemeron, demonstrating
considerable familiarity with contemporary science. Gregory was the first Christian to argue
that it is man, not God, who is the author of all arts and sciences, being endowed by God
with an inventive intellect (Against Eunomius 2.184–190). In On the Making of Man, Gregory
speaks in detail of human physiology and mental activities, defending the immaterial nature
of the intellect which permeates the entire body (§12.3) fed by the senses (§13.5). Gregory
maintained that the soul is created by God (not before the body), as an immaterial substance
with the capacity to enliven bodies and perceive (On the soul and resurrection 12, 21). Gregory
adopted P’s tripartite soul, but maintained that strictly the soul is the rational part, the
one godlike part. For Gregory the purpose of the incarnation is the deification of human
nature as a whole including the body. While lacking special medical training, Gregory of
Nyssa acquired substantial medical knowledge and was conversant in anatomy, physiology,
surgery, and pharmacology. (Cf. -G, D P.)
Ed.: PG 44 – 46; W. Jaeger et al., Gregorii Nysseni Opera, 8 vv. to date (1952 ff).
H. Cherniss, “The Platonism of Gregory of Nyssa,” University of California Publications in Classical
Philology 11 (1934) 1–92; J. Danielou, Platonisme et théologie mystique: doctrine spirituelle de saint Grégoire de
Nysse (1944); W. Jaeger, Gregor von Nyssa’s Lehre vom heiligen Geist (1966); RAC 12 (1983) 863–895, H.
Dörrie; ODB 882, A. Kazhdan, B. Baldwin, and N.P. Sˇevcˇenko; Meredith (1995).
George Karamanolis and Daniel L. Schwartz
Gregory of Tours (570 – 594 CE)
The powerful bishop and historian of Tours also wrote a brief cosmological work, de Cursu
Stellarum Ratio. He describes seven human-made wonders § 2 – 8 (Noah’s ark, Babylo ̄n,
GREGORY OF NUSSA (NYSSA)